Eight months and change after each team last played, ironically against each other, the Broncos and the 49ers finally get to play their own opener tonight. When they finally get to Candlestick Park, the Broncos will have the chance for a measure of empty, superficial revenge against the team that kept them out of the playoffs last season. San Francisco finished its fourth straight losing season with an improbable 26-23 overtime victory in Denver on New Year's Eve.
The 49ers' first-team offense will be in the game for 15 plays or the entire first quarter, whichever comes first. Alex Smith and new receivers Darrell Jackson and Ashley Lelie - who left Denver one year ago after a bitter holdout - will debut without NFC rushing champion Frank Gore, who will miss the Niners' first three exhibition games with a broken hand.With San Francisco's starting lineup already mostly set, the most intriguing audition could be for the job as Gore's top backup. Michael Robinson, the former Penn State quarterback, is battling veteran Maurice Hicks for what might be only one roster spot behind the workhorse Pro Bowl starter.
Denver has its own injury problems at receiver and along the offensive line, but Shanahan isn't worried about the top end of his roster, particularly this early in camp.
Coaches and veterans caught up in the minor position skirmishes that dominate the preseason sometimes forget one of the most important parts of August: The chance for rookies and first-year players to wear NFL uniforms for the first time.That moment hasn't been lost on 49ers linebacker Patrick Willis, the 11th overall pick. The Mississippi product invited his guardians out to San Francisco for his debut under the lights at Candlestick, where he'll see time with the first-team defense and plenty of additional snaps with the backups.
The 49ers will hold a moment of silence before the game for Bill Walsh, their Hall of Fame coach who died July 30 of leukemia. Shanahan is among the most successful coaching heirs to Walsh's legacy, winning two Super Bowls and establishing a consistent winner over his 13 seasons in Denver.
5 pm pacific on ESPN.
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